One of the insurers hit by the changes to annuities announced in Wednesday's budget, Resolution, has been revived by a broker upgrade.

The company - which this week also said its restructuring was complete, its founders were leaving and it would be renamed Friends Life - is 8.7p higher at 326.8p, making it the biggest riser in the FTSE 100.

The move came as Barclays' analysts raised their target price from 361p to 370p with an overweight rating, just a day after cutting the target from 378p to 361p in the immediate wake of the budget. Analysts Alan Devlin and Chris Roberts said:

We hosted Andy Briggs, chief executive of Resolution, in our London offices last night and found him to be relatively upbeat about Resolution's ability to deal with the biggest change the pensions industry has ever faced.

The chief executive had clearly thought through how the changes would affect the opportunity Resolution has in the retirement market. The key takeaway for us was that 1 in 9 UK pensions mature with Resolution, and that if the opportunity is not there to convert them into annuitants, they will still need another retirement product and Resolution will be in a strong position to provide that solution. The end product might change, the strategy does not. We believe the share price reaction, down 10% from Tuesday's close and 17% from its high earlier this month, is overdone and that at a 6.7% yield the stock is attractive at these levels.

Other insurers however were under pressure again, with Aviva down 0.8p at 492.9p and Legal and General 0.4p lower at 212.7p.

Overall the FTSE 100 has edged higher after two days of losses. The index is up 19.18 points at 6561.62, shrugging off the growing tensions between Russia and the west over Ukraine, with a growing list of sanctions, as well as comments from new US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday suggesting interest rate rises could come within six months. Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor, said:

There is a mild resurgence in confidence as we close out the week with the bounce in Asian markets enticing some investors out of the shadows. They will however need to remain fairly vigilant and nimble as the geopolitical and economic situation swings hot and cold on a daily basis. Indeed, dips in the FTSE 100 towards the 6500 level is enticing a wave of short term speculators each time.

Burberry is down 28p at £13.92 after HSBC reduced its price target from £18.50 to £18.20. Meanwhile Bank of America Merrill Lynch moved its rating on the business from buy to neutral.

But miners moved higher despite volatility in the copper price on concerns about a slowdown in the Chinese economy and worries about further Chinese corporate bond defaults.

Anglo American has added 30p to 1441.5p while Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo is up 17p at 883.5p as gold and silver prices edge higher as safe havens in the current uncertainty.